ESPA Continuation Project Final Workshop

Held at General Economic Division, Planning Commission, Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka
12 February 2018

The final workshop of the ESPA Continuation Project was held at the Planning Commission in Dhaka, hosted by Prof. Alam, Member (Senior Secretary), General Economics Division. Attendees came from University of Southampton, IWFM BUET and GED with other attendees from organisations such as the Institute of Water Modelling, WARPO and the Bangladesh Water Development Board.

In this project, three potential interventions from the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 were selected for detailed analysis in collaboration with the Planning Commission. These are as follows:
• A new greenbelt of mangrove and forest along the southern exposed coast.
• A new sea wall some 3 metres higher than existing walls made by strengthening and enhancing existing coastal-facing dykes.
• Developing a new network of polders in Barisal and Jhalokati district – the South Central polders.

A series of presentations considered the background to the projects and application of Delft3D and the Delta Dynamic Integrated Emulator model to assess these interventions. The key findings are as follows:

• Of the three projects considered, the South Central Polders on balance raise living standards and address poverty most effectively. However, there is some flood risk displacement mainly to the west.
• The reduction in extreme poverty and inequality projected assumes the current residents of these areas remain. Changing land ownership and farm size may lead to different outcomes.
• Across the study region, the full benefits of polders are only realised with an effective regime of maintenance.

There was a wide ranging discussion and strong interest in taking this work forward beyond this project.

A journal paper and a book, published by the Planning Commission, are planned as the major outputs of this project.